When she first began her career as a family nurse practitioner, Dr. Nancy Dirubbo’s initial goal was not to own her own practice. Now nearly four decades later, she finds herself having owned three successful businesses as an NP entrepreneur, her first of which is now one of the oldest nurse practitioner owned and operated primary care practices in the United States.

Does anyone else feel like they spend the majority of their time at work or in the kitchen? Between brewing my morning cup-a-Joe, cramming down a quick breakfast, prepping a lunch, whipping up dinner and washing dishes, I've grown to feel like the kitchen is one of my primary locales these days. Now this isn't a problem, I'm actually really fond of cooking and especially fond of eating, but it does mean that I like to keep the place clean and well stocked.

If you haven't heard (where have you been?!), here at MidlevelU, we're hosting our first ever continuing education conference for nurse practitioners and physician assistants. We can't wait to meet you live and in person! If you haven't registered yet to attend, there are still a few days left to sign up. Don't delay - space is limited.

I'm always inspired by nurse practitioners who take on the challenge of starting their own practices. The task personally sounds quite daunting to me! So, over the next several weeks we're featuring NP entrepreneurs here on the MidlevelU blog. While starting your own practice is hard work, it is a career adventure that can have benefits - a more flexible lifestyle and higher income to name a few. Dual certified Adult and Family Nurse Practitioner Cynthia Malowitz, founder and owner of Bay Area Quick Care, is one of these success stories, thanks to her perseverance and unmatched work ethic.

As nurse practitioners one of our main roles is to provide our patients with guidance on how to effectively manage their health through preventative care. We advocate for healthy lifestyle habits. But when it comes to managing our own health, we often find ourselves making compromises. Between working full-time and balancing a home life filled with kids, laundry, grocery shopping and a million other errands to run, practicing what we preach can feel seemingly impossible, leaving us to feel like frauds.

Nurse practitioners are newly allowed to prescribe buprenorphine (Suboxone) as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act signed into law by former President Obama. While the Act augments nurse practitioners' scope of practice from a federal standpoint, some states are more limiting in the freedoms they allow NPs. In which states can nurse practitioners actually prescribe Suboxone?

For most nurses, especially those just beginning their careers, debt is the biggest concern. Between student loans, car payments, and credit cards, it can be overwhelming. Rightfully so! Short-term debt can be a destructive force and can greatly affect your wealth building results. It’s also difficult to know where to begin. “Should I save or pay off debt?” “Should I pay down my loans as quickly as possible? Or take my time?” Things can get confusing. However, knowing when to handle debt is equally as important as not having it.

I didn't originally intend on making it viral syndrome week here on MidlevelU, but given the season it seemed appropriate. After my shift the other day in the emergency department, I felt the need for an influenza brush-up. So, I'm passing on the relevant and lesser known tidbits to other nurse practitioners who could also use a refresher. Yesterday, we looked at influenza testing and its accuracy (see 5 Lesser Known Facts to Help Make a Flu Diagnosis). Today, we'll take the next step in the patient care process and look at treatment.

What will you do when you graduate from your nurse practitioner program? If you've already graduated, have you taken the leap into your next career step, finding a job? Completing NP school is a time of excitement and promise but also one of anxiety and chaos. What next steps do you need to take to get licensed? Do you have the clinical skills required to succeed? As a new nurse practitioner, I had many of the same thoughts. And, well, I struggled in my first job out of school which was the motivation behind starting Midlevels for the Medically Underserved (MMU).